TECH MARKETING

SURVEY SERIES 07
WORKING
WITH AN
AGENCY
IN THE REAL WORLD
 We surveyed...
you answered.

We asked real-life tech marketers to tell us what’s

REALLY going on behind-the-scenes at their companies
in regards to working with agencies and freelancers.
Read on to see detailed responses from the survey…or if you’re short on
$5-10K/month
average agency spend
time, here’s the summary:

• The majority of tech companies are outsourcing PPC tasks;

the least outsourced task was social media.

• The average agency spend was $5-10K/month; the average freelancer

spend was $1-5K/month.

• Once a tech company breaks the $1M annual revenue mark, they’re $1-5K/month
more likely to start using an agency. average freelance spend

• Marketing agencies tend to charge on a retainer whereas freelancers

charge hourly or on a per-project basis.

• Tech companies tend to keep 80% of marketing work in-house

and outsource the remaining 20%.

• Overcoming a steep learning curve was the #1 challenge to

outsourcing work.

TECH MARKETING SURVEY SERIES: WORKING WITH AN AGENCY IN THE REAL WORLD
© 2022 Kiwi Creative
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 How does the client/
agency relationship work
at tech companies?

What marketing work is outsourced at a tech

company?
A little more than half of the companies we surveyed said they outsource a
relatively small percentage of marketing projects—just 20% of the overall
workload—to an agency or freelancer.

But what specific tasks are staying in-house vs. what’s getting outsourced?
Tech companies are heavily relying on agencies/freelancers for PPC, followed
by design and writing. On the other hand, they’re keeping social media and
strategy tasks in-house.

Types of Marketing Work Outsourced vs. In-House

PPC Design Writing Development Lead

nurturing

62+38 43+57 38+62 29+71 24+76

38%
62%

Technical
57%

Email
43%
62%
38%

Reporting
71%

Strategy
29%

76%
24%

Social Media
integrations marketing

19+81 14+86 10+90 5+95 5+95

10% 5% 5%

19% 14%

81% 86% 90% 95% 95%

Outsourced In-house

TECH MARKETING SURVEY SERIES: WORKING WITH AN AGENCY IN THE REAL WORLD
© 2022 Kiwi Creative
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 When do tech companies work with agencies
or freelancers?

According to our survey, it all comes down to a company’s annual revenue.

• None of the tech companies with under $1M in revenue used a marketing

agency, but many used multiple specialized freelancers.

• Tech companies with $1-25M in revenue tended to use one general

marketing agency.

• Tech companies with $50-100M+ in revenue used multiple specialized

agencies, but rarely used freelancers.

How much are tech companies paying to outsource

marketing work?
Of the tech companies who used agencies, the majority are on a dollar-based
retainer paying $5,000-$10,000/month. That said, the biggest companies (those
making $50-100M+/year) definitely have deeper pockets—they’re spending well
over $25,000/month on agency spend!

Of the tech companies who used freelancers, most were paying either hourly
or for flat-rate projects to the tune of $1,000-$5,000/month.

Tech companies with under Tech companies with $1-25M Tech companies with
$1M in revenue typically in revenue typically use $50-100M+ in revenue use
use freelancers. one marketing agency. multiple marketing agencies.

TECH MARKETING SURVEY SERIES: WORKING WITH AN AGENCY IN THE REAL WORLD
© 2022 Kiwi Creative
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 What’s working well (or
not!) with agencies and
freelancers?

What challenges do tech companies face when

The #1 challenge
working with an agency or freelancer?
tech companies face
The software/tech industry can be confusing for an outsider, which is working with an agency
why it’s not surprising that the #1 challenge cited was the learning curve: or freelancer was the
non-employees just don’t “get” the complexity of these businesses. learning curve.

After that obstacle, tech companies struggled with the cost of agencies/
freelancers, quality of work and reliability.

How satisfied are tech companies with their

marketing agency?
While agency satisfaction ranks high at 7.3 out of 10, tech companies
don’t tend to keep them around for very long…about half have been
working with their current agency for less than one year!

Our agency generally produces quality

work with good communication and Our agency is good at execution, but
fair rates. They could improve on thinking could use more big strategy changes.
more outside of the box.

Our agency provides great customer support, but they need to adopt the latest
technology and trends.

TECH MARKETING SURVEY SERIES: WORKING WITH AN AGENCY IN THE REAL WORLD
© 2022 Kiwi Creative
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 How satisfied are tech companies with their
marketing freelancers?
Freelancer satisfaction was nearly identical at 7.5 out of 10, but tech
companies tend to work with these resources longer (1-2 years on average).

Our freelancer has a Our freelancer is great at

quick response time, but as
Our freelancers know their
a non-employee they are a
trade well. The only issue has
little more distant from core
been availability.
messaging than we
would like.
following the exact
given instructions, but
could improve on creating
with a longer-term
vision in mind.

What would a tech company’s “dream” agency look like?

In an ideal world, our respondents said an agency would be someone who…

• …moves quickly at a reasonable price.

• …has a vast knowledge of SaaS and our prospect/customer industries.

• …does all the strategy, optimization and execution that brings huge ROI to my business.

• …acts as an extension of our team.

• …a real partner who is metrics-focused and transparent.

• …has the latest technology and is in front of their competitors.

• …brings creative ideas in marketing our product to gain more traction.

• …someone who gets our industry and can assist with messaging and generating conversions.

TECH MARKETING SURVEY SERIES: WORKING WITH AN AGENCY IN THE REAL WORLD
© 2022 Kiwi Creative
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 Extra Resources
So tell us—how does your tech/software company compare to our survey
respondents? Do you feel like you’re behind or ahead of the curve based on
This report was created by
the insights from your industry peers?
Kiwi Creative, a digital
If you’d like more information about using agencies and freelancers, here marketing agency and
are some of our favorite resources. HubSpot Platinum Solutions
Partner for growing B2B
software and technology
Blog Posts
companies.

• HubSpot: When You Should (and Shouldn’t) Outsource Your Marketing

To learn more about how our
agency can help with revenue
• Databox: Why Should I Hire a Marketing Agency?
operations, technology
• Semrush: How to Hire a Marketing Agency for Your Business (4 Steps) integrations and more, visit
kiwicreative.net
• HubSpot: How to Find Freelancers for Your Business

• CommonThread: How to Work with a Digital Marketing Agency: An

Open Letter to Prospective Clients About Better Relationship

eBooks

• HubSpot: The Ultimate Guide for Hiring an Inbound Marketing Agency

TECH MARKETING SURVEY SERIES: WORKING WITH AN AGENCY IN THE REAL WORLD
© 2022 Kiwi Creative
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